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The National Debt in Perspective

The national debt is at $15.8 trillion dollars. It is roughly 7 times that amount when the unfunded liabilities of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are factored in. These numbers are so large that it is often difficult to grasp. Thankfully, Mike Kane has written a guest post over at the Coalition to Reduce Spending to put the national debt into perspective.

Republicans in Congress have retreated on their pledges to cut spending. How else should one interpret the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act, H.R. 1892, last week? The bill busts the spending caps by $296 billion over two years ($165 billion for defense and $131 billion for nondefense). Congress added another $80 billion in disaster relief, bringing the total to at least $376 billion.

FreedomWorks president Adam Brandon unleashed the following comment on those citing the threat of terrorism or “national security” as reasons to support the explosion in our national debt through the McConnell-Schumer budget deal:

The bill would blatantly disregard the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 that requires Congress to adhere to budget caps – This bill goes above and beyond, busting the caps by nearly $300 billion over two years, more than twice that of the past two, two-year deals combined

Responsible spending is not something Congress has proven itself to be good at, under Republican or under Democratic leadership. The Bipartisan Budget Act, the absolutely atrocious cap-busting deal proposed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R- Ky.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) which busts the Budget Control Act caps by more than twice what the previous two deals combined did, proves this.

FreedomWorks Vice President of Legislative Affairs Jason Pye released the following statement regarding the possibility of the Senate including spending cuts as a trigger if the economy fails to produce enough revenues under the new tax code:

The total debt in the United States has continually risen, year after year, increasing almost fourfold since the start of the 21st century. What was a total debt of $5.75 trillion in January of 2000 is now over $20.45 trillion. This number has risen due to excessive government spending, with few mechanisms to hold it accountable otherwise.

On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to vote NO on the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Requirements Act, introduced by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.). The bill spends $36.5 billion for areas affected by recent disasters and food stamp funding for Puerto Rico without corresponding offsets.